UNESCO supports Central Asian young specialists in water resources management

On 23-25 September 2015 a regional training for young civil servants from ministries and departments involved in water governance in Central Asia and Afghanistan was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

A regional training for young governmental specialists in the field of water resources management has been successfully completed in Almaty. The event was organized by the German-Kazakh University with support of UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office, Kazakhstan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), OSCE Programme Office in Astana and the World Bank. The training programme included a three-day workshop in Almaty and a following study trip to Germany, which will end on 1 October 2015.

The primary objective of the training was to promote the cooperation among the representatives of water-related ministries and departments from Central Asian countries and Afghanistan in order to facilitate the improvement of water resources management in the region as a whole. About 20 young specialists from five Central Asian republics and Afghanistan took part in the workshop.

During the meeting the participants had an opportunity to discuss legal aspects of water resources management in the context of climate change at the national, regional and global levels, as well as increase the role of youth in decision-making process in this area. UNESCO Almaty Office organized the first session on International law in the field of transboundary water resources and climate change, involving an international expert who represents the UNESCO Category 2 Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee, United Kingdom, and the Environmental Law Centre of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Bonn, Germany.

Supporting this event, UNESCO emphasizes the need to strengthen the capacity of young professionals in water sector and increase youth participation in decision-making process, thus enabling them to develop new and efficient methods and solutions to overcome the existing problems of water management in the region.